Having Trouble With Your Hotmail Login?

If you are looking to create a webmail account, hotmail is an excellent choice, as this is an extremely popular service. Hotmail was one of the first webmail services available online, and it now has an estimate 420 million users and is available in 106 languages. Yet, you may be wondering how to sign up and how a hotmail login works exactly. Therefore, to help you, let’s go through this process step by step so you’ll know everything that you need to get started.

How To Sign Up.

The first step is signing up at hotmail, which is also known as outlook.com due to a recent upgrade. Either hotmail.com or outlook.com web addresses will get you to the same service page. So, step one is to type one of these addresses into your web browser and navigate to hotmail’s main page.

What will you see? On the right hand side of the page you will see “Outlook” in large letters, and then a place for your hotmail login below. However, if you don’t yet have a hotmail login, then you will need to click on the link to create a new account. Where is this found?

Look below the username and password input boxes, and you’ll see the phrase “Don’t have a Microsoft account? Sign up now.” Click on this link and it will take you to the new account creation page. When you do, you’ll navigate to a page that is labelled “Create an account” and it has a variety of boxes for you to input your information. Here you’ll put in your name, your desired password (it must be at least 8 characters long), desired username/email address, your zip code, birthday, gender, country and you can also link your new hotmail account to email account with another service and/or a phone number. This is in case you lose or forget your hotmail login information, and need it sent to you at secondary email account or on your cell phone.

Keep in mind that with hotmail being so popular, often your first username/email address choice will already be taken. You’ll often have to add some numbers to your selection, in order for it to be approved.

Now, check the box to agree to the terms and conditions, click “Create Account” at the bottom and your new hotmail account is ready to go!

Where To Log In.

Now that you have successfully created your hotmail account, or if you already had an existing account, you’ll need to log in. This process is easy, simply go to either hotmail.com or outlook.com as instructed in the previous section. Now, on the right hand side of the page, enter your username and password in the boxes labeled for each.

Remember that you must include @hotmail.com after your username or your login will fail. Also, your password is case sensitive, meaning that you should check to see if your caps lock is on inadvertently. These are the two of the most common reasons for a failed hotmail login, and by checking them if you’re having problems you’ll usually resolve the issue.

Once you’ve typed in your username and password into the boxes, you can check the box that says “Keep me signed in” if you are using your own personal computer. However, if you are on a public or shared computer, this is not recommended as someone who uses the computer after you could view your account.

Now, click the “Sign In” button below the username and password input fields, and your account will load – it is that easy!

What To Do If You Forget Your Password.

You may be wondering how to successfully complete your hotmail login if you’ve forgotten your password. To restore your account access, click on the link that says “Can’t access your account?” found below the “Sign In” button on the main page. You’ll be taken to a page that gives you three options, and click the one that says “I forgot my password” then click the “Next” button. On the next page that loads, you’ll be asked to input your hotmail address and a random code (to ensure that you are a live person, not a computer).

Once you’ve entered this information, click “Next” and another page will load. Here, you’ll be asked how you want to receive the security code needed to reset your password. If you linked another email address or phone number to your account when you created it, it will (with a portion of it blocked out) show up as an option on the screen. Click that address or phone number and then another input box will appear. Here you’ll be asked to type in the full email address or phone number, to verify that you are the account holder (and not someone trying to break into your account). Once you type this in, click the “Next” button and you’ll be informed that the security code was sent.

Now, if you opted to receive a text message on your cell phone, you should receive one in the next couple of minutes. Or, if you asked for an email message instead, go to your other email account and check your inbox. You should find a password reset email from hotmail. Open it and you’ll see a security code and a link to the page where you need to input it. Click that link in your email, and then input the security code from the email into the box. Then, you’ll be asked to choose a new password and then to retype that password to confirm. Click “next” and you’ll be all set – you are now ready to go back to the hotmail login page and use your newly updated password to successfully access your account.